All About RHOSLC's Bronwyn Newport's Life As A Young Mom

The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Season 5 newbie, Bronwyn Newport, quickly gained a lot of fans due to her extravagant fashion and controversial relationship with her husband, who's 26 years her senior. She also has an interesting backstory as a former Mormon.

The reality TV star got pregnant at 19 with her now 18-year-old daughter, Gwen. Bronwyn's late ex-boyfriend (Gwen's father) was never involved. His family also called the millionaire fashionista some harsh names, which she refused to mention after breaking the news to them.

While filming the show, Bronwyn discovered that her ex-friend and co-star, "Mormon 2.0" Lisa Barlow, knew her ex's family. They then reached out to the former, hoping to meet Gwen, but Bronwyn expressed doubts about their sincerity. Here's why.

Bronwyn Newport Was Kicked Out Of The Mormon-Sponsored Brigham Young University After Getting Pregnant At 19

Bronwyn's Parents Wanted Her To Give Up Her Daughter Gwen For Adoption

RHOSLC's Bronwyn Newport — Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Bronwyn Newport at the Warner Bros. Television Group Fall TV Season Celebration 2024

After Bronwyn's story was featured on RHOSLC, rumors spread about her being excommunicated from the Mormon Church. She then clarified on Instagram that she was only kicked out of the Mormon-sponsored Brigham Young University (BYU) after getting pregnant at 19. She explained:

I did get kicked out of BYU but not excommunicated! I was raised Mormon, and no longer go, but that's by choice!

Bronwyn then distanced herself from the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) church. "I had Gwen on a Monday and I went to work on a Wednesday. I was a single mom," she said of her life as a young mom during an interview with Nick Viall's The Viall Files podcast.

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Bronwyn also faced pressures in her career back then. "I worked in finance at the time. And a lot of it is kill or be killed. For sure," she recalled. The snowflake holder told People that the experience "changed her as a person."

"It has changed who I am as a person to have had my entire adult life be a single mom," she shared, "be somebody who's kind of pushed this trauma down for the betterment of my child."

Bronwyn Newport's Ex And Father Of Her Daughter Gwen Was Never Involved

Bronwyn Found Out On Facebook That Gwen's Father Died When She Turned 2

After a difficult conversation with the family of Bronwyn's ex, regarding her pregnancy, she "left there knowing I was going to have to do this by myself," she told Lisa on RHOSLC. "I think he decided this was something that he wasn't gonna be a part of."

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She then cut contact with him and his family. But when Gwen was two years old, Bronwyn found out on Facebook that her ex had died. "I saw someone had commented on an obituary with a picture of Gwen's dad on it," she recounted.

When Gwen was around eight years old, Bronwyn met her future husband, Todd Bradley. She was working in finance at that time.

Bronwyn's Newport Relationship Timeline With Her Husband Todd
2014	Bronwyn and Todd met while having lunch by themselves; she found him "hysterically funny" and the rest is history
2016	The couple tied the knot; they had two ceremonies—a casual one at Oracle Park in San Francisco and a glamorous reception the next day
September 2024	Bronwyn celebrated her 8th wedding anniversary and 10 years of being with Todd with an Instagram reel; she said he "keeps [her] on [her] toes" and "pushes [her] constantly to be better."
November 2024	After facing controversies about their fight on RHOSLC, Bronwyn defended Todd, saying: "I don’t think Todd really cares what it looks like to anybody else. ... That's a good reminder for me that I’m very happy with Todd and everyone else can see that or not see that."

During a confessional, Bronwyn said she's proud of her decision to raise Gwen on her own. She said it "was the best thing I’ve ever done, and so many people thought it was the worst thing I had ever done." Of course, Todd has also been a great help to her in the last eight years.

The Family Of Bronwyn Newport's Ex Made Her Feel "Shameful" When She Got Pregnant

Bronwyn Remains Protective Of Gwen As Her Estranged Grandparents Try To Reach Out

Lisa described the family of Bronwyn's ex as this "wonderful family," which the latter had a "hard time reconciling." Bronwyn still remembers how "they were not supportive" of her pregnancy, especially during that "conversation that deeply hurt" her.

It wasn't a pleasant conversation with them. I took a fair amount of the blame, which is words that I won't repeat, but you know what the connotation is, right?

She then told Lisa that Gwen's dad "would have preferred... if I said I was doing a study abroad and went and just quietly had my pregnancy and had the baby adopted." They also made her feel "awful and damaged and disgraced and shameful."

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Bronwyn recently told E! News that she has "not heard from them directly, but they definitely want to have contact with Gwen." She said it's all "definitely for [Gwen] to do for herself" but Bronwyn "still [wants] to be involved in managing that communication."

Lisa then told Bronwyn that "there's regret and hurt there" in Gwen's estranged grandparents. "They were like, 'We want to be a part of Gwen's life and she wants to be a part of our life, we really want it,'" added the former.